Selfsufficientish.com

confused wrote:I once made rice+raisin whisky, but i have'nt a clue now what the mix was ,i just remember my hens were falling all over the shop when i threw the rice+raisins in the run for them!!

I once made a 'Saki' wine, which consisted of 2lb of sugar, 2lb of rice( long grain I think), 2lb of raisins, with added yeast, & mashed up raisins. Fermented in a bucket for a few weeks, then the 'mash' was strained through a pillowcase & the liquid put into a demijon/airlock to ferment. As i remember, (it was 45yrs ago now), Jeez, thats scary ! ! It was very potent, after consuming 1 bottle i went down the local & was sevearly Pi##ed.
Ray.

I have tried making marrow rum, early days yet but loolking good so far. I got fed up of fruit flies buzzing around and looked for a way to keep the marrows 'safe'. I chose marrows that would fit insite 2 or 3 litre plastic pop bottles. having scooped out the seeds I put the marrow in the upsidedown bottle, with the base of the bottle cut off (the screw top end of the bottle became the bottom, acting like a funnel) and placed the bottle in a jug (a little wider than the bottle) for the juices to drain into. The cut off bottom of the bottle now becomes the top, or cap which I sealed with some sellotape. The marrow was incased inside the upsidedown plasic bottle, much more hygienic andeasier to handle. Hope this tip helps.

That's really helpful thanks Gaynor (and welcome to the forum ). Am currently trying marrow rum myself, using the marrow suspended in tights over a jug method. But I have lowered the end of the marrow into the jug to prevent drips everywhere. I think next time I will try your plastic bottle method, as it was a nightmare finding somewhere to hang the marrow - it eventually ended up on a curtain hook with a bit of cardboard wedged between the marrow and the wall to prevent stains!

So far a dribble has come out after a week, but there is a lot of sloshing inside so fingers crossed!

I am a new menber and this is my first post.
I have been making marrow rum for the last 4 years. my marrow was suspended in 15 denier tights, like the fish nets

After reeding all your posts on this subject, Marrow rum does ferment and does contain alcohol.
My first couple of attempts came out very pale as well, but were still quite potent.
So in 2007 on my third go i added about a quarter of a packet (500g) of molasses suger which not only gave it a darker colour, but also gave it a more groggier taste (rum).
On the first tasting it was rather sweet but very potent and after a year it mellowed out and tastes very pleasant. (i've got 1 bottle left).
Recently i have sampled the new lot, Last years (2008) which was made in the same way and is similar to the previous year.

This will be my last post on the subject untill someone replies.
Right, i suspended my marrow or very large courgette in a pair of tights resting on a large plastic funnel which was in the top of a demijon, which was in a 5 gallon fermentation bucket in the bath.
After the marrow was hollowed out and packed with the demerara/molasses sugar, i added a general perpose brewing yeast!
After a week or so of topping up the marrow with more sugar as the fermentation process reduced and liquified the brew, i made several holes in the bottom of the marrow so that it would drip into the demijon.
The hole process took about a month, keep topping up the demerara sugar until the demijon was 3/4 full.
Then i fitted an air lock and left it fermenting, it was still a bubble 6 weeks later but very slowly.

I'd just like to say that I'm very disappointed in you all: it appears you've managed to subject my girlfriend to many months worth of yeast/rot-smelling living area!

Hi all,
new on here, read all on making marrow rum as started a couple off about 2 months ago, I have just got to the stage of transferring liquer syrup to demijohn 2 days ago, had about 1.5 ltre of dark golden syrup and smells extremely alchoholic , just thought id add, I found the easiest way of getting marrows scooped out was the use of my 6yr old daughter tiny hands as loved getting messy and did a thorough job too, bubblin extremely well in back of airing cupboard, wishing next 12 months away already , lol

Alan

I scraped the contants out when it started to dribble into a fermentation bucket and repacked the cavity with demorara (did I spell it right?) sugar and some more orange juice and yeast, when it started to dribble again, I scraped it all out again with as much of the marrow pulp as I could into the fermentation bucket and gave it a good stir, it is now strained (through cheesecloth) and bubbling away nicely.

[img]<a%20href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/catalysthe ... 8"%20/></a>[/img]

Well, That didn't work
I shall try this!!
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg14 ... P05368.jpg

Right sorry to bump an old thread up but I've just started Mk1 Marrow rum project!

Ive got a decent sized rum hollowed it out, packed it full of dark brown sugar, juice of half an orange and a teaspoon of baking yeast (couldnt find brewers yeast!)

Its now hanging in a pair of stockings (1 day now!) and i havnt put any holes in it.

1) Should i put holes in it and let the liquid come out?
2) If not how long should i leave it there for?
3) What sort of strength can this stuff make?

Lots of recipes around on the net but they all seem vague!!! If anyones successfully done it could they PM me or reply here???

Thanks!

i noble_locks PM sent. tony

hi,
I'm a newby so bear with me, I have grown a huge marrow in the allotment and thought it sounded like a good idea to make rum. I have cut the top, packed with sugar and a little ginger but no yeast. Now after 15 days have a container full of very very sweet dark brown thick liquid, that does not taste of alcohol, it has no scum or bubbles. Have I made rum or tooth rot? should i add some vodka to it to lessen the sweetness and make it alcoholic. It's in the cool dark cupboard under my stairs, What do i do next..

add some yeast, it will then ferment.
i have made marrow rum many times and have aways added yeast, but some of my friends have done it without and had the same result as you.
good luck tony

Some notes from a marrow rum cynic - I hold to my position that it does not work (at least, not as some of you think).

Common to all the comments is that the result is sweet. That means that not all of the sugar has fermented out, so full alcoholic content has not been achieved - so don't expect super-strength. Lots of you report a sludgy liquid with no fermentation. I'd count yourselves lucky. Unless you add yeast, any fermentation could be caused by anything which floats by - including some particularly nasty bacteria. In the end, all of you end up fermenting the resulting liquid in a container - so why not put it all into that container in the first place? What you're doing in reality is allowing a marrow to rot in the presence of a lot of sugar. As the marrow cell walls break down, releasing the cell contents, the sugar liquifies. Any fermentation which occurs within the marrow can only be at the margins of the sugar/marrow contact zone, where the sugar concentration is less. This is because of an unalterable fact of life with yeast - it cannot function if the concentration of sugar is too high. Then again, nor can it function if the concentration of alcohol is too high - so you're never going to achieve more than 15 to 18% ABV - half the strength of rum at best. If you use baker's yeast, you're not even going to attain that - more like 10%.

When the sludge is in the container, fermentation cannot begin until the strength of the sugar solution falls below a certain level i.e. when enough rotting-marrow-liquid gets in there. It's distinctly possible that that will never happen - as a few of you have discovered. Unless you add your own liquid, of course, but then you're simply making marrow wine.

I think you're all wasting your time and some expensive sugar, but I'm not trying to put you off - I'm all for experimentation. However, I worry, sometimes, for your health. If you must do this, then please do it in a safe way (which, basically, means avoiding those nasty bacteria and avoiding the fruit flies). Chop up your marrow and put it into a clean demijohn. Add some yeast and give it a shake (that bit's important as you don't want all of the yeast sitting on top of the sugar). Now add the sugar - demerara will certainly give you a more "rummy" taste than anything else - in the same amounts that would have been stuffed inside the marrow. Put an airlock over the whole thing and then just leave it. There's absolutely no difference between this and what you were doing before, except that now you're doing it under controlled conditions. The marrow will rot and liquefy and the sugar will go into solution. The yeast will, if it's able, begin pockets of fermentation. What you may end up with is a very sweet but LIGHTLY alcoholic something. Or you may find that no fermentation has occurred at all - but that's no different from what some of you have reported anyway.

For what it's worth, the marrow is irrelevant. You could achieve the same (actually, much better and more dependable) result by fermenting a solution of demerara sugar with nothing else added except a lot of yeast nutrient. You'd need a hydrometer and you'd have to learn the technique of feeding the must with sugar solution, but it's possible (just) that way to achieve 20 or 21% ABV. At least that method's safe.

To sum up, a few guarantees ...

Using the "hang a marrow" method, at least 50% of you will fail to produce anything but sludge. Another 20% of you will produce a dangerously infected jar of brown sludge. Yet another 20% will come to your senses and throw the muck out. 10% of you will produce a very sweet table wine.

There are easier ways of making alcoholic drinks.

I know that some of you are going to insist that the traditional method works and that you end up with something like rum. But I'm afraid that yeast chemistry is now a well-understood science and it's not possible to make normal yeasts perform miracles - certainly not in such an uncontrolled and unhygienic manner.

Mike